I'm sorry to announce that this November I will not be seeking reelection as your neighborhood commissioner in 2B09. I'm also proud and excited to share that my support and vote will go to Scott Davies.

I have absolutely loved my 4 years as your ANC Commissioner. I can look back on a number of accomplishments, but none more important than achieving my original goal: meeting new friends and feeling a sense of belonging in my neighborhood.

In the end, my growing career responsibilities and travel schedule make it difficult for me to commit to two more years as Commissioner. I'm excited to put my experience to good use and continue to serve our neighborhood by leading large policy and infrastructure projects for the ANC. I'm of course still your neighbor and always available to help.

When I think about who I want to represent me to the city, I think of someone who is level-headed, patient, experienced in dealing with government and interested in making a positive difference without a personal agenda; that is Scott Davies.

I've known Scott for several years. He and his husband Edel have lived on the 1400 block of Swann Street for 10 years. He leads large programs for the US Department of Transportation - he speaks fluent bureaucrat - and has served as a Navy Reservist for 19 years. He's also a private pilot and an all around nice guy.

You can look forward to getting to know Scott and some issues important to him when he goes door-to-door this fall to hear from each of you.

Thank you all so much for the support these last 4 years. It's been an honor to serve you all and of course I'll continue to serve through the beginning of January when I hope to pass the baton to Scott.

The Dupont Circle ANC is having its regular monthly meeting on February 10 at 7pm at the Brookings Institution (1775 Massachusetts Ave NW). Our agenda (available HERE) includes several items of note for our neighborhood:

Application by Policy Restaurant (1904 14th St) to add a "Dancing" to their existing entertainment endorsement.

Under our alcohol regulations, a restaurant must be licensed to allow dancing in their establishment. While this restaurant is allowed a DJ and live music, they are not currently allowed dancing. According to the restaurant, many of their customers dance and the they seek to be in compliance with DC regulations.

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Comments on proposed regulations for pub/bar crawls. I have led this effort for the ANC and will propose several changes to the regulations to further protect neighbors. See my BLOG POST on the topic.

Historic preservation review of construction at 1514 Swann St for a rear addition and third floor rear pop-up. I plan to support this project because of an agreement made between the developer and neighbors. I'll closely monitor the compliance of that agreement to make sure the neighbors are protected during construction.

Proposal for adjustments to 16th St Buses, including service improvements, traffic improvements, and physical adjustments of the road and stops. Major changes would include:

Reserve one lane (alternating in AM and PM) of 16th Street for buses only.

Late last year the DC Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC) responded to the requests of ANC Commissioners, neighbors, MPD, Business Improvement Districts and others by adopting emergency rules and proposing permanent rulemaking on pub/bar crawls. A pub crawl is when a group of establishments organizes together to promote an event where ticketed customers go from place-to-place in a certain time. There are usually drink specials and a theme around a holiday, like Valentine’s Day, New Year’s, or Halloween.

Pub crawls are common around our neighborhood and can draw thousands of people to the area at once. The area south and west of Dupont Circle sees the most pub crawls, but they are becoming more commonplace on 14th Street. Generally, after these crawls the streets around the participating establishments are littered with trash and there is nobody held responsible for cleaning up. With thousands of people on the sidewalks and streets at once, there is also no coordinated public safety effort like there would be with any other event.

The ABC Board’s proposed regulations are actually very good; they require pub crawl promoters to be registered and to plan for the public safety of their participants and the clean-up of the neighborhood. These promoters charge anywhere from $10 to $40 for a ticket to a pub crawl and have almost no overhead besides a website. They need to take responsibility for leaving our neighborhoods in the same or better shape as they found them.​ I will introduce a motion this Wednesday for ANC 2B to support the regulations with a few modifications, such as that the Board should not approve more than one pub crawl in the same place at the same time. Please take a look at the regulations and let me know what you think!

Last month Mayor Bowser visited ANC 2B and I took the opportunity to ask for her support in developing a neighborhood-wide vision and plan. I believe our neighborhood lacks a cohesive and agreed upon vision that we can reference when making tough decisions about development, use of space, and appropriate city services. The Mayor has a lot of experience with this is Ward 4 and pledged her support. I'm meeting with the Director of the Office of Planning later this month to discuss our options.

I have to thank our partners at the Dupont Circle Citizens Association, Historic Dupont Main Streets, the Golden Triangle BID and others who are helping to get this off the ground in 2016. Much more to come!

ANC 2B Meeting This Wednesday

The Dupont Circle ANC is having its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, January 13 at 7pm at the Brookings Institution (1775 Massachusetts Ave NW). Our light agenda (available HERE) includes two items in 2B09:

Review of a liquor license application for the Wydown on 14th Street. This was announced in last month's email as well. The Wydown is seeking an alcohol license to serve a few beers, wines and cocktails in the evenings. You can read more about their application in this Borderstan article.Their hours of operation would end at midnight.

A historic preservation review of a proposed addition at 1514 Swann St NW. The proposal would fill in a dogleg in the rear of the home and add a third story master suite that would not be visible from the street. At our committee meeting this week we tentatively agreed to postpone this hearing until February so the immediate neighbors could have their questions answered before the ANC votes.

Unfortunately, I will be missing this meeting as I'll be on a work trip all of next week. My Vice-Chair, Nicole Mann, will do a great job leading the meeting. If you have questions or comments about either of these, please let me know.

No really, it’s been too long. I have neglected this site in the last few months and I apologize for that. I am fortunate to have seen many of you in the neighborhood recently, including at our monthly meetings. For those I haven’t seen, a quick update:

I have been in almost daily contact with DDOT on a series of requests for repairs and upgrades in our neighborhood. These include sidewalk repairs on 17th, S and U streets, road markings on Swann and T, moving signs to add more legal parking on T, and crosswalk markings to enhance pedestrian safety at 17th and New Hampshire.

While many of these projects were completed, some are not and I have pressed the DDOT Director and Jack Evans’ office to think small. The things that really make a difference in our quality-of-life are the little things: sidewalk repairs, tree canopies, clean streets, pothole repairs and rat abatement. Talking about these things doesn’t win citywide elections, but it matters more than our politicians realize.

As Chair of the ANC since October 2014, my time is often not my own. I have been pulled into several broader neighborhood issues that I wouldn’t normally be involved in. These include taking a leadership role in negotiations over a proposed roof deck at the Carlyle Hotel on New Hampshire Ave (the hotel withdrew their application on Friday), and seeking final resolution on development at the site of the St. Thomas Church on 18th St and Church St.

I also consolidated our two employee positions into one and led our Commission in a search for a new Executive Director. We were thrilled to hire Peter Sacco to serve in that capacity. Peter is the ED of the Foggy Bottom ANC and a former Commissioner. Dupont and Foggy Bottom are now a model for the rest of the city by sharing resources, staff and better aligning priorities.

Finally, I invite you all to the December 9th ANC meeting where we will welcome special guest Mayor Bowser. The Mayor will join us to hear from Commissioners on challenges facing our neighborhood – I highly encourage you to offer any thoughts to me before that meeting. I am, after all, your representative.

I hope you have all been well and have a wonderful Thanksgiving and holiday season.

The 17th Street Festival will be held Saturday, September 12th from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. in the 1500-1600 blocks of 17th Street, NW. ANC 2B is a proud sponsor of the festival and of our local businesses!

The festival celebrates the arts and diversity of Dupont Circle, including 40 artists, pet zone, kids’ area is Stead Park, entrepreneur area, and lots of vendors, plus your favorite restaurants and retailers of 17th Street.

The stage is programmed all day – from drag shows to rock performances. The 17th Street Festival is free and open to the public – rain or shine.

The agenda for the September regular monthly meeting of the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood has been published. The ANC meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 7pm at the Brookings Institution at 1775 Massachusetts Ave NW.

On the docket this month is at least one item of note for our neighbors:

1508 Caroline St NW - Application for zoning relief to construct a rear and side addition. This project has been presented to the neighborhood before when they were seeking historic preservation approval. Through meetings with neighbors, the applicant and the ANC's Zoning, Preservation and Development Committee, we have developed a compromise that may alleviate some concerns for neighbors and can be supported by the ANC. The changes include angling the rear of the project so it does impact light and air to the neighbor on the west. The Committee also wanted to make sure that building out to the property line on Caroline St did not become the norm and will include language in its draft resolution as such.

Welcome! This site serves as a resource for residents of ANC 2B09 in U Street and Dupont Circle. I provide updates with information on upcoming meetings, events in the neighborhood, and discussion topics.

You can learn more about me by clicking here. If you have any questions or comments or have an idea for a post, please reach out to me anytime.